Studying for radiology is intense and unlike anything that you have done before. If you think shirking your duties only hurts yourself, you are entirely and utterly wrong. For those of you that don’t yet get it but are willing to listen, here are 10 of some of the disastrous consequences of your poor study habits!
Harming The Patient
First and foremost, you took a Hippocratic oath at the end of medical school, right? Well, by not reading, that certainly goes out the window. Not studying well leaves you more prone to interpretation errors when reading films. Ultimately, this will affect patient care. Who needs unnecessary biopsies and increased morbidity/mortality? You don’t care about that!
Your Colleagues Don’t Take You Seriously
Notice that your colleagues never approach you for consultations on their cases and second opinions. You feel out of place. Why is that? If you read something, you would go over more interesting cases because your colleagues would have a good reason to talk to you. You may become a better film reader. Well, maybe you are not interested in films and consults?
You Go From Practice To Practice
You know this type of individual. Probably, you have seen an attending or two who do not last long at your program. Sometimes you are not quite sure why they left. But many times, they can’t interpret films well. Perhaps, if they had read and studied a bit more…
Can’t Pass The Core Examination
This statement cuts right to the heart of the first through 3rd-year radiology residents. What is a radiology resident’s worst nightmare? That they need to take the core examination twice. Why would you want to do that? Just study!!!
Difficulty Obtaining The Fellowship You Want
Your dream is to go into interventional radiology. Forget about it. You always wanted to do an MSK fellowship. No way. To get into the more competitive specialties, you need recommendations. Who will give you a good one when you have not read a lick and never attempted to change your study habits? Did you think about that?
Your Attending Dreads When You Are On Call
Have you noticed that sigh that seems to emanate from your attending’s mouth when you say you will be on call the night before his CT rotation? Well, you better get used to it! Who wants to be the attending of record after you make all those interpretation errors due to lack of reading?
No Job Connections
Finally, you graduate from your residency program. But, no one seems to let you know when that next great job is available. Why not? It is straightforward. Who would want to recommend you to a position when you don’t have the background to merit it?
Attendings Won’t Let You Perform Procedures
In interventional radiology, you realize that your colleagues are getting to do a whole lot more procedures independently than you get to complete. Why is that? Hmm… Maybe, no one trusts you to touch a patient because you haven’t read about the procedure at all!
Consults Walk By You
Have you ever noticed how any clinical physician that has a questi0n walks right by you to the other guy in the corner of the room? Well, you have established a reputation for yourself because you have not been studying the right way. You are no help to anybody. Maybe this is what you wanted- you now have less work. Congratulations!
Losing Out To The Competition
You are beginning to notice that your patient loads are dropping precipitously? Around the corner, another practice opened up that now reads studies that you don’t feel comfortable reading because you are unwilling to study and learn about the new image modalities in radiology. Your wallet begins to suffer!
Bottom Line For Poor Study Habits
Reading, studying, and continually learning are all part of becoming a great image interpreter. A radiologist cannot exist in today’s climate without these tools as a resident and beyond. Why would you want to destroy your reputation and have to deal with the ten disastrous consequences of poor studying habits!!!
